Vehicle pocket arrangement

ABSTRACT

A vehicle pocket arrangement for storing small items includes a downwardly depending flap covered with trim material and integral with a filler board of a vehicle body door trim panel. The flap is defined by a generally U-shaped aperture in the trim panel. A filler board member slightly larger than the depending flap has trim material secured to the lateral and lower edge portions thereof to provide a pocket panel having a generally upwardly opening pocket. The pocket panel is positioned to the rear of the trim panel and then moved upwardly to insert the flap within the pocket. The filler board member is thus located to the rear of the trim panel and overlying the U-shaped aperture. The filler board member is taped to the rear of the trim panel.

United States Patent 1191 Parkinson [54] VEHICLE POCKET ARRANGEMENT [75]Inventor: Charles F. Parkinson, Troy, Mich.

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Burchl ..296/37 R 1,815,0287/1931 Burch ..296/l52 x 1,877,265 9 1932 Chadwick ..296/37 R OTHERPUBLICATIONS German Printed Application DAS 1,095,685

December 1960, Volkswagenwerk Primary Examiner-Leo Friaglia AssistantExaminer-Leslie J. Paperner Att0rney.-W. E. Finken et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A vehicle pocket arrangement for storing small itemsincludes a downwardly depending flap covered with trim material andintegral with a filler board of a vehicle body door trim panel. The flapis defined by a generally U-shaped aperture in the trim panel. A fillerboard member slightly larger than the depending flap has trim materialsecured to the lateral and lower edge portions thereof to provide apocket panel having a generally upwardly opening pocket. The pocketpanel is positioned to the rear of the trim panel and then movedupwardly to insert the flap within the pocket. The filler board memberisthus located to the rear of the trim panel and overlying the U-shapedaperture. The filler board member is taped to the rear of the trimpanel.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures VEHICLE POCKET ARRANGEMENT This inventionrelates generally to vehicle pocket arrangements and, more particularly,to pocket arrangements wherein pocket panels are secured to vehicle trimpanels to mount the pocket panels within vehicle compartments.

It is known to provide a vehicle pocket arrangement within a vehiclecompartment for storing road maps, small tools, personal items, etc. Onemanner of constructing such a pocket arrangement is to first fabricate atrim panel and a pocket panel. The trim panel is fabricated from afiller board of a suitable fiberboard material or the like and isadaptable for mounting within a vehicle compartment, such as on avehicle body door. The filler board is generally covered with a trimmaterial, such as vinyl, leather, or another suitable upholsteringmaterial, to provide the trim panel with an aesthetically appealingappearance. An aperture is then cut in the trim panel generally to theshape of the pocket panel but of a slightly smaller size and the portionthat is cut away is discarded. The pocket panel is also fabricated froma filler board covered with a trim material and edge portions of agenerally flexible pocket material are secured to the trimmed fillerboard to provide a generally upwardly opening pocket. The pocket panelis then positioned adjacent the trim panel, with the pocket materialinterfitting generally within the aperture of the trim panel, andwith'the edge portions of the pocket panel generally overlapping theedge portions of the trim panel defining the aperture. The panels arethen secured to each other by stitching the overlapping edge portions orby other suitable attaching methods for securely attaching the panels toeach other.

With this type of pocket arrangement, the portion of the trim panel thatis discarded, of course, represents waste. While it would appearadvantageous to use this wasted portion of the trim panel forfabricating the pocket panel, this is not possible since there wouldthen be no overlapping of the edge portions to allow the secureattachment of the panels to each other. Also, the attachment between thepanels must be relatively strong since normal forces during manualdepositing and removal of articles from the pocket tend to separate thepanels. For this reason, the use of an adhesive tape or the like tosecure the panels to each other is not generally practical.

This invention provides an improved vehicle pocket arrangement in whichthe trim panel includes a generally U-shaped aperture defining agenerally downwardly depending flap received within the pocket of themounted pocket panelin a'downwardly inserted relationship.

Accordingly, one feature of this invention is that it provides a vehiclepocket arrangement in which the pocket panel does not have to be coveredwith a trim material since the trim material of the downwardly dependingflap provides a finished appearance to the interior of the pocket.

Another feature of this invention is that with the depending flap of thetrim panel received within the pocket of the pocket panel, the panelsare substantially fixed relative to each other and attachment of thepanels by adhesive tape or the like is sufficient to maintain the panelsrelative to each other during normal use.

These and other features of this invention will be readily apparent fromthe following detailed description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a vehicle body door including aninner trim panel supporting a pocket panel to provide a pocketarrangement according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the pocket arrangement takengenerally along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the pocket arrangement takengenerally along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the trim panel of FIG. 1 withthe pocket panel removed to show the downwardly depending flap normallyreceived within the pocket of the mounted pocket panel; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the pocket panel removed from the trimpanel.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body door generallyindicated by 10 conventionally supports a side window 12 movable betweenraised and lowered positions in the usual manner by a window regulatorhandle 14. A conventional armrest 16 is suitably mounted on door 10slightly rearward of an inside remote handle 18 that is actuatable tounlatch the latch mechanism of a door lock assembly whose bolt ispartially shown at 20 adjacent the closed end of a keeper receiving slot21. A garnish button 22 is conventionally connected to the lockmechanism of the door lock assembly to prevent unlatching of bolt 20 byactuation of handle 18. Adjacent the lower forward portion of door 10,the door inner trim panel 24 supports a pocket panel 26 to provide apocket arrangement 28, according to this invention.

As can be seen by additionally referring to FIGS. 2 through 4, trimpanel 24 includes a filler board 30 which is ofa suitable fiberboardmaterial or the like. A layer of foam padding 32 is adhesively securedto the major portion of filler board 30 but has a generally rectangularportion 34 cut away adjacent the pocket arrangement 28. A suitable trimmaterial 36, such as vinyl or the like, is adhesively secured to thefoam padding 32 and adjacent the rectangular portion 34 is secureddirectly to filler board 30. A generally U- shaped aperture 38 is formedwithin the trim panel 24 and provides a generally downwardly dependingflap 40.

Referring additionally now to FIG. 5, the pocket panel 26 includes afiller board 42 of a slightly larger size then the rectangular outlinegenerally defined by aperture 38. As seen in FIG. 5, a generallyrectangular piece of flexible pocket material 44 has lateral and loweredge portions stitched at 46 to filler board 42 to define a generallyupwardly opening pocket 48 best seen in FIG. 3. Pocket material 44includes downwardly pointing integral portions 50 allowing expansion ofthe pocket size during depositing of articles within the pocket. Thepocket material may also be of a somewhat more flexible material withelastic sewn across the upper edge to provide the required expansion.

To assemble the pocket panel 26 to the trim panel 24, the pocket panelis positioned generally perpendicular to the rear face of the trim panelwith the opening of the pocket generally adjacent the lower edge of flap40. The pocket panel 26 is then rotated to insert the lower portion offlap 40 within the pocket, and then moved upwardly to downwardly insertflap 40 in pocket 48 and position the panels relative to each othergenerally as shown in FIGS. 1 through 3. The board 42 overlies the flapand panel 26 around the aperture 38. Adhesive tape 52 is then applied tothe filler boards 30 and 42 to position the panels relative to eachother. With the panels in the assembled position, the trim material 36on flap 40 provides a finished appearance to the interior of pocket 48and the lateral forces exerted on the assembled pocket panel 26 areresisted by the trim panel 24 and by the flap 40.

The invention thus provides an improved vehicle pocket arrangement.

What is claimed is: g

l. A vehicle pocket arrangement comprising, a first filler boardadaptable for mounting within a vehicle body compartment and including adownwardly depending flap, trim means covering the side of the firstfiller board that faces inwardly of the compartment to provide a trimpanel, a second filler board slightly larger than the depending flap,pocket means secured to the second filler board generally adjacent thelateral and lower edge portions thereof to provide a pocket panel with agenerally upwardly opening pocket, and means securing the pocket panelto the trim panel with the depending flap received within the pocket ina downwardly inserted relationship.

2. A vehicle pocket arrangement comprising, a first filler boardadaptable for mounting within a vehicle body compartment and including agenerally U-shaped aperture defining a downwardly depending flap, trimmeans covering the side of the first filler board that faces inwardly ofthe compartment to provide a trim panel, a second filler board slightlylarger than the depending flap, pocket means secured to the secondfiller board generally adjacent the lateral and lower edge portionsthereof to provide a pocket panel with a generally upwardly openingpocket, and adhesive means securing the pocket panel to the trim panelwith the depending flap received within the pocket in a downwardlyinserted relationship.

1. A vehicle pocket arrangement comprising, a first filler boardadaptable for mounting within a vehicle body compartment and including adownwardly depending flap, trim means covering the side of the firstfiller board that faces inwardly of the compartment to provide a trimpanel, a second filler board slightly larger than the depending flap,pocket means secured to the second filler board generally adjacent thelateral and lower edge portions thereof to provide a pocket panel with agenerally upwardly opening pocket, and means securing the pocket panelto the trim panel with the depending flap received within the pocket ina downwardly inserted relationship.
 2. A vehicle pocket arrangementcomprising, a first filler board adaptable for mounting within a vehiclebody compartment and including a generally U-shaped aperture defining adownwardly depending flap, trim means covering the side of the firstfiller board that faces inwardly of the compartment to provide a trimpanel, a second filler board slightly larger than the depending flap,pocket means secured to the second filler board generally adjacent thelateral and lower edge portions thereof to provide a pocket panel with agenerally upwardly opening pocket, and adhesive means securing thepocket panel to the trim panel with the depending flap received withinthe pocket in a downwardly inserted relationship.